Bundesliga news: Pep expects a tough fight and Mkhitaryan injured

Pep Guardiola is not expecting an easy win when his Bayern München side take on newly promoted SC Paderborn today. The visitors have yet to lose in the Bundesliga, and are top of the table ahead of the fixture.

Another club who has gotten used to winning is Augsburg. After a slow start to the new league campaign, FCA has managed to win two straight matches against Frankfurt and Werder Bremen.

Not so happy faces are to be seen in Dortmund where a new injury, this time to Henrikh Mkhitaryan, puts head coach Jürgen Klopp between a rock and a hard place. Lastly, Union Berlin president Dirk Zingler has criticized RB Leipzig for being an “a marketing unit for a product brand.”

Pep Guardiola is not expecting an easy win when his Bayern München side take on the newly promoted surprise package SC Paderborn on Tuesday. The visitors have already beat the likes of Hannover (2-0) and Hamburg (3-0) in the Bundesliga. Ahead of the meeting at the Allianz Arena, Andre Breitenreiter’s side are top of the standing after clinching eight points from the first four league matches. Bayern coach Guardiola claims Paderborn has “talent” and “quality” and says their lack of pressure might help them grab points in Munich.

“They have talent, they have quality,” the former Barcelona manager said during the pre-match press conference, according to kicker. “In short – we know they will stand up.”

He continued: “They will go forward, sure. They have done that so far. And why should they stop? They have no pressure, if they do not win than everything is okay.”

Guardiola has been hit with injury blows ahead of the match. Franck Ribéry is set to miss the game, and Arjen Robben is only a “maybe” according to the 43-year-old coach. Moreover, Robert Lewandowski, who has only scored once in the Bundesliga after his move from Borussia Dortmund, has been hit with an injury to hip and is as well unsure.

“He has problems with his adductors. He is not 100 percent. I am very satisfied with his performances,” Guardiola notes.

“Football change fast” – Augsburg head coach states

Talks of a crisis in Augsburg can be silenced after the club’s 4-2 home victory against Werder Bremen. FCA took their first points of the season away to Eintracht Frankfurt after losing the opening matches against Hoffenheim (2-0) and Dortmund (3-2). The away win was followed by the victory against the Bremen side, and meant Augsburg have now left the bottom three.

Weinzerl explained: “So fast it might change in football,” (according to kicker) he continued, “A week ago, there were talks of a crisis and today we have six points.”

Augsburg, who were promoted to the Bundesliga in 2011, visit Leverkusen on Wednesday and midfielder Tobias Werner warns the BayArena-outfit not to underestimate his FCA side who he says won’t go down easy against the Champions League side.

“There are also three points for us to pick up in Leverkusen,” the 29-year-old told kicker.

“We’re not going they’re saying ‘oh! now comes Leverkusen who play in the Champions League and have outstanding offensive players’ we want to get something there.”

Mkhitaryan out for four weeks

Dortmund head coach Jürgen Klopp has been hit with another injury ahead of his clubs encounter with Stuttgart at home on Wednesday. Henrikh Mkhitaryan has injured his right tarsus and is out for approximately four weeks, according to kicker. The 25-year-old joins a prominent list of injured players at Signal Iduna Park. Marco Reus, Jakub Blaszczykowski, Ilkay Gündogan and Nuri Sahin all have all different injury-related problems, and will now be joined by Mkhitaryan at the rehabilitation center.

The injury follows Dortmund’s poor performance away to Mainz where Klopp saw his men lose 2-0 against his old employers. The defeat came just a few days after an impressive display in the Champions League saw Dortmund beat Arsenal 2-0 at home.

“Football is about more than just money” – Union president critical towards RB Leipzig

Football is about more than achieving success through the use of money, says Union Berlin president Dirk Zingler. The comment was delivered shortly after the capital club beat Red Bull backed RB Leipzig in the 2.Bundesliga after two goals from Sebastian Polter. RB has been under heavy scrutiny from German football fans for lacking tradition. The club was founded in 2009 after energy drink manufacture ‘Red Bull’ purchased SSV Markranstädt’s naming rights and relocated the club to the Saxony city.

After the purchase, heavy investments has been made into the club and in the summer of 2014 over 10 million pounds were spent on new arrivals, by far the highest number in the zweite Bundesliga. Not the right way to gain success, according to the Union president.

“For me, football is about more than achieving success through the maximal use of capital,” Zingler says, according to 11Freunde. “If football is used primarily as a marketing unit for a product brand, than I can understand the concerns of many football fans.”

Fans of Union Berlin were protesting against RB Leipzig by dressing in black raincoats and showing of banners in the stand.

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